The Cleveland Indians celebrate on the Yankees' home turf after winning game four of the ALDS on the road. Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images.

Scott Raab: Derek Jeter is a no-doubt future member of the Hall of Fame's mythical Inner Circle. But it's hard not to notice that he tanked this October. Not only did Jeter swat .176 with a .352 OPS, but he hit into three double-plays.

In 17 at bats, Cap'n Clutch accounted for 18 Yankees outs.

And don't think Alex Rodriguez wasn't keeping track, because he surely was. I hate to grandstand — Jay will attest to that — but I'm the guy who wrote the Esquire story about A-Rod back in 2001, the one that spoiled a beautiful friendship between the two young shortstops. I won't soon forget Alex calling me up to express his dismay because Derek was furious with him for some of the quotes I used. Derek held onto that grudge even after they became teammates, held onto it while A-Rod roasted on the spit of public contempt, held onto it despite the fact that Alex, the better shortstop, moved to third base in deference to Jeter.

I claim no special insight into A-Rod's soul — I have trouble enough tending to my own — but I'd bet green money that he just played his last game in pinstripes. They've treated him like shit here: the press, the fans, and Derek Jeter.

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Jay Levin: You wrote that piece? I always forget that, since you hardly ever mention it. Anyway, you're right, they've treated A-Rod like crap, especially Jeter has, to the detriment of both men and everyone else involved. It's hard to figure out what Jeter does the worst at these days, between hitting in the clutch, supporting A-Rod and playing shortstop. He's so bad at all three.

A-Rod's big mistake has been wanting to be someplace where the team would be bigger than A-Rod, in terms of his place in the game, now and historically. But these Giambi-Mussina Yankees, the ones that have failed in the clutch over and over again, will never be bigger than A-Rod, and no current team is. He needs to find a way to embrace that while still being a good teammate.

His new MVP and new contract should help. If he leaves, he'll reassert his place as the most valuable player in the game on some other team. If he stays, with a contract that dwarfs Jeter's, he'll tacitly subvert Jeter as The Man on that team, even if Jeter is the Captain.

Jeter had a really terrible series. It bears mentioning another 10,000 times to balance the coverage from every other outlet.

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Scott Raab: Why Bud Selig lets the Yankees turn the 7th-inning stretch into a faux-patriotic ritual — not so incidentally forcing the opposing pitcher to wait an extra five or so minutes while the microcephalic Ronan Tynan quavers his meandering way through "God Bless America" — is a mystery. No other team or town pulls this sort of crap. It's no tribute to America — it's a tribute to George Steinbrenner's sense of entitlement and his monomania, and it's a disgrace to the game.

If another team pulled this on the Yankees, Steinbrenner would raise hell, and he'd be absolutely right to do so. And if the Yanks' pitchers could miss bats the way Tynan misses notes, the Yanks might've had a prayer against the Tribe.

And that's all the gloating I intend to do. There are Clevelanders like Steinbrenner — whose idea of manhood is bullyragging, boasting, and buying respect — but most of us know that sportsmanship means winning and losing with as much dignity, perspective, and grace as one can muster.

In other words, fuck the motherfucking Yankees. In their house. With Paul Byrd. With Joe Borowski. With Rudy Giuliani in his precious little VIP box. With Rocket pouting, feet up in the trainer's table's stirrups, as the team gynecologist pries apart his Hall of Fame labia. With the dickweed Michael Kay babbling about how the Yankees are the better team.

Right. It was the gnats. It was A-Rod. It was Bruce Froemming. It simply isn't possible that the better team wasn't the Yankees, because that simply can't be true in Bombersworld. Just count the ringzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Bye-bye, you sorry bastards. Oh, and God bless America.

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Jay Levin: Look, it isn't that starting Byrd or Mussina was such a great idea. It's more that starting Sabathia or Wang on short rest was a pretty bad idea.

When you start a guy on short rest, you take away not only some of his raw strength and stamina, but also a significant part of his self-knowledge — his ability to predict and understand his body's capabilities and limitations. For example, the precise amount of effort needed to throw a certain pitch at a certain speed with a certain break. And with control.

You can tell when the guy on the mound doesn't have the body he was expecting, and it happens sometimes even on full rest. How much greater is the chance that a starter won't have the physical response he's expecting to have, if his expectations are based in part on six months straight of exactly four days rest, and never less than that?

I wonder, too, if the difference between a Byrd and a Sabathia hasn't been exaggerated. That difference this season has been exactly one run over six innings, consistent over ERA, RA and FIP. Do we really think that over the long haul, the short-rest effect doesn't amount to one run over six innings?

I kept hearing this other theory, that a sinkerballer like Wang might actually do better on short rest. Or rather, people kept saying that they thought that some other guy had said that. And who knows where that
guy heard it from.

Not only is this theory ridiculous, I think it's not even a real theory. The real theory is that having extra rest might hurt a sinkerballer, because he's stronger than he's used to — there's that self-knowledge again — so he might have trouble having the right feel for his sinker. I don't know if it's true, but at least you can see the logic.

But this other bastard version, with the short rest helping, makes no sense at all. On short rest, he's weaker than he's used to, which means hestill doesn't have the right feel for his pitches, plus he's just weaker. Weak sinkerball pitchers don't get more outs, they get hammered. And whoever thinks velocity doesn't matter to a finesse pitcher must be insane. What's he gonna do, throw 75 and 60?

I'm not saying I'd never start an ace on short rest. I am saying I'd have to have worse options than Byrd or Mussina.

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